1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic exposure control apparatus employed in an electronic still camera, a video camera and other cameras using a solid-state imaging element such as a charge-coupled device (referred to as a "CCD").
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally speaking, in an automatic exposure control apparatus equipped with a still camera using a color film, or a photosensitive film, an electronic still camera using a magnetic disk, or a video camera using CCD, there is provided a photometric device for measuring photometric quantities of a subject.
In the above-described automatic exposure control apparatus equipped with the photometric device, this photometric device is positioned adjacent to a focal plane of a film, or a solid-state imaging element, otherwise outside the camera apparatus so as to measure the photometric quantities.
However, there are some difficulties in the photometry performed by the above-described photometric device. That is, the luminance of the subject measured by the photometric device is different from the luminance of the actually imaged subject due to a physical distance difference between the setting position of the photometric device and the focal plane of the subject on the film or solid-state imaging element. Moreover, in case that the luminance of the photographed subject is correctly measured by the above-described conventional photometric device, the mechanism for refracting the light path of the subject image is necessarily required during the photometry. This may caus the camera apparatus to be bulky and complex.